


Sing Me of the Moon and the Star and Everything in the Space Between Them

by victoriousscarf



Category: Star Wars - All Media Types
Genre: Multi
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-07-25
Updated: 2016-07-24
Packaged: 2018-07-26 14:38:10
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,223
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7577983
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/victoriousscarf/pseuds/victoriousscarf
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>It's a love story written in stages, started in shock, squeezed around a rebellion and mistrust, and maybe written in the stars somewhere. </p><p>Or more likely not.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Sing Me of the Moon and the Star and Everything in the Space Between Them

**Author's Note:**

> I hold very near and dear the headcanon that by the time Lando meets Luke, he expects anything except what this broken boy is. 
> 
> And I've really wanted to write this for a while. 
> 
> (Who lets me title fics, incidentally?)

Lando had been a lot of things in his life.

But he thought he liked traitor possibly least of all.

What the kriff had happened to Han? he asked himself for the dozenth time. Usually if he had strolled out, insulting him and stony faced, Han huffed and walked right back out, his fragile pride folding underneath his feet.

This was just not the time for Han to grow thick skin.

But in his defense Lando had barely been able to keep up the pretense of being angry, because the Imperials were watching him and if he scared Han off they would come down on his whole city like a sledgehammer.

The deal was just for this Luke Skywalker. His friends would be bait, but that was a small price to pay for Han's life, for the princess' life and Chewbacca's, as well as his whole city.

He didn't know who Luke Skywalker was. It just wasn't his lucky day.

-0-

Luke Skywalker must have been something if Darth Vader was scouring the universe for him. Darth Vader wasn't often in the public eye, but just standing next to him convinced Lando it was worth more than his life to trifle with him.

“Can you find me anything about Luke Skywalker?” he asked Lobot.

“Most of what we get here are Imperial censored channels,” Lobot answered. “Trying to hack into the Rebellion holonet with them here—”

“Yeah, yeah, bad idea,” Lando muttered. “I just want _something_.”

Lobot came back a few hours after the disastrous dinner where they had sat at a table with Darth Vader, Han glaring at him every few minutes and Leia sitting in straight backed fear, her eyes darting to Vader and away quickly. There was rage in her eyes, and some other memory that made Lando look away.

“They want him,” he said.

“No kidding,” Lando said.

“No, I got past the first layer of security,” Lobot said. “They have a bounty out on Skywalker, have for years.”

“Why?” Lando asked, nodding to someone as they walked. If they were walking, the security cameras were less likely to catch their whole conversation.

“He blew up something big,” Lobot said. “The weapon they used to destroy Alderaan.”

Lando almost stopped walking. “Kriff.”

Lobot nodded. “Yeah.”

The Empire never talked about exactly what had happened. They had a weapon that could destroy entire planets, that they publicized because what was the point of a terror weapon if it didn't spread fear into people? But it hadn't been seen since Alderaan and the Rebellion had taken credit for it's destruction.

But it was hard to get Rebellion signals at Bespin and Lando honestly didn't usually feel the need to try. He just wanted to keep his tiny corner of the universe safe and right now it was as far from safe as possible.

“And that's who Vader wants to come here?” Lobot nodded. “I'm not sure this is the type of person I want to meet,” Lando said.

-0-

It didn't surprise him that the princess was loyal and also furious at him.

It did surprise him that Han was loyal and also furious not just because of the torture or the betrayal.

Han wanted to protect Luke and Chewbacca did too and Lando stood in that awful room, listening to them both roar in rage at him, and wondered who the kriff this Luke Skywalker was.

Han wasn't loyal to _anyone_ and that was what made the sting of his string of betrayals and cheating bearable. Han's only concern was himself and his ship and his co-pilot.

Lando bit his tongue instead of asking how Han even joined the Rebellion anyway, he wasn't nearly idealistic enough. Instead he took their rage and just reminded himself he was _doing the right thing_. The only thing he could do.

His city was his responsibility.

But the rage in Han's eyes when Lando said who the trap was for, the way he dragged his aching body up like he wanted to throttle Lando. Like he could endure what was happening, Vader and the torture but not the idea of this Luke Skywalker being in danger.

Lando wanted to know who this man was as much as he didn't.

-0-

The deal got worse and worse and Lando was barely holding himself together.

His city, he reminded himself over and over. He would protect them from the Empire because they believed in him. He promised he would.

So he stood next to Darth Vader and swallowed everything until it looked like he was complacent.

Until the deal wasn't just bad, it wasn't a deal at all. No one would be left under his protection and he knew the next step was deposing him and turning the city he had worked so _hard_ for into another Imperial colony.

To the bottom of the stars with that.

He hit the alarm, knocked down the stormtroopers and ran.

He had done everything he could for this city and it had never been enough.

-0-

They were almost away, Lando already making plans for how to get Han back from the bounty hunters and they were almost away from the Tie Fighters when Leia closed her eyes and opened them again.

“Luke,” she whispered and Lando turned around. “We've got to go back.”

“What?” Lando asked, peering out the cockpit window and yeah, the Ties were still on their tail.

“I know where Luke is,” she said and Lando frowned, looking out again. There were no figures, no signs pointing to him.

But then again, so long ago, he had met a Jedi. On the run, lightsaber hidden, and able to do extraordinary things. He looked at Leia again, wondering.

“But what about those fighters?” he asked, bracing his hand on the side of the _Falcon_ as shots went across their bow, reminding them they were running still.

Chewbacca agreed with him, barking that they were in danger already.

“Chewie, just _do it_ ,” Leia demanded, with all the royal authority she must have had instilled from a young age. Chewbacca paused, and they looked at each other for a second, wookie and princess and he roared his agreement.

“But what about Vader?” Lando asked, a last ditch effort to keep running.

No one was worth turning around for. Not the man Han was loyal to, not the man Vader wanted more than anything else in the galaxy to make such an elaborate trap for.

How had Skywalker fallen into the trap anyway?

It didn't matter, Lando reminded himself, viciously.

Chewbacca turned in his seat, no matter that he had just protested the very same thing, and growled at Lando. Leia just stared at him in stony, angry silence and he held his hands up in defeat.

“All right, all right, all right,” he said, punching new directions in to the _Falcon_. This ship had saved his life in the past and he hoped she would not fail him now.

Please don't fail, he thought, looking up through the cockpit as his city came back into view.

But it wasn't his city anymore and he felt that like a punch to the stomach. He had sold himself up a river, betrayed his friends and these strangers that didn't deserve it, and for nothing. He'd lost his city.

It was for nothing.

“Look, someone's up there,” Lando pointed and there was a figure danging from one of the garbage chutes. Lando blinked in surprise because whatever figure he had built in his head of Luke Skywalker, finding him dangling from the bottom of his city, spat out with the garbage did not seem right.

Lando followed Leia's order to open the top hatch without pausing or arguing. Chewbacca and anyone else would be too tight a fit and who knew what shape this Luke was in.

He could hear the Tie fighters advancing now, as he clipped himself to the ship and crawled out into the wind and across the top of the _Falcon_. The body had fallen, thankfully not too far down from the vane, and not too far from the top hatch.

Lando got his first look at Luke Skywalker when he rolled him over, trying to urge him to help Lando carry him across the _Falcon_ as Ties fired at them.

He was just a boy. A boy missing a hand with a bloody face who Vader had pommeled into the ground.

Lando lost precious seconds staring in shock.

“Come on, kid,” he said, urging Luke up and Luke just groaned, desperate and in pain. “Come on, we just have to get in the ship and into the medical bed. Come on, please, we turned back for you.”

“I don't,” the boy moaned and sagged against Lando.

This was not right, Lando thought, numb as he practically dragged the boy back into the ship with him, trying not to hear his high pitched sounds of pain. This must not be Luke. Leia would be disappointed but they really did have to go now.

But when he got the bloodied boy down, Leia ran toward him and threw her arms around him. “Luke,” she breathed and he collapsed against her.

“Oh, Leia,” he breathed and Lando shook himself, taking the pilot's seat again and shooting the _Falcon_ forward, more desperate this time.

He did not turn as Leia led Luke away, feeling like he didn't just loose his world, but what remained of it had been horribly shaken.

Han had given his loyalty to that... boy?

That boy had destroyed the Empire's weapon that could shatter planets?

Vader had taken his entire city for that broken human being just to stamp on him?

His fingers were tight against the controls, his knuckles pale as they veered out of atmosphere and toward the black of space and right into a Star Destroyer. Other ships were coming out of atmosphere too, including an Imperial Shuttle ahead of them and the Ties behind them.

He felt Leia come back to the cockpit more than he heard her. “Alright, Chewie, ready for light speed.”

“If your people fixed the hyperdrive,” Leia said acidly and Lando didn't deign that with a response as she sat down at the navi computer. “All the coordinates are in. It's now or never,” she said as the Star Destroyer got bigger and bigger in their view.

“Punch it,” Lando said as Chewbacca barked in agreement. The wookie pulled at the hyperdrive and they could hear it gear up before suddenly it went silent. Lando stared in shocked betrayal at the controls, feeling Leia and Chewbacca both turn angry eyes on him.

The ship started rocking around them and he felt like he should just float off into space. “They told me they fixed it. It's not my fault!” he yelped, hitting the controls again to the same result. “They told me they _fixed it!”_

With an angry roar, Chewbacca lumbered out of the cockpit, and Lando started desperately punching the controls, hoping Han hadn't somehow locked his controls. But everything else had worked fine which meant either his people had lied or Vader had sabotaged the ship.

The man seemed like he would leave nothing to chance and he should have seen this coming.

Leia took Chewbacca's seat and they were sprayed in a shower of sparks. “That's not good,” Lando remarked and Leia glared at him.

He deserved that, but he didn't appreciate it.

“Yell at me later,” he said. “See what we can do now.”

But nothing they hit had any effect, and they were getting closer and closer to the Star Destroyer. Any second and the tractor beam would be in range. Lando bolted out of his seat, hitting controls and resetting panels as more sparks started flying. “What the kriff is Chewie doing down there?” he asked as more sparks flew. “Chewie!” Lando yelled, hitting the intercom and getting a howl back.

“It's Vader,” a voice said behind him and Lando turned to see Luke standing there. He looked half feral, eyes too big on his sunken and bruised face, stump of his hand cradled against his chest.

Something about him felt like being kicked in the chest by a horse.

“Ben, why didn't you tell me?” Luke whispered, staring at the Star Destroyer and Lando had no idea who Ben was supposed to be but Luke was standing in the middle of the cockpit so Lando gently put his hand to his waist, guiding him to the side to move around him and trying not to feel the heat of his skin through his clothes.

Somehow it hadn't mattered dragging him inside, with shots around them and the wind but now it did. Luke stumbled despite all of Lando's efforts and sank into one of the chairs, not taking his eyes off the Star Destroyer. But then he closed them, sagging in defeat and that—that wasn't right.

Lando had no idea in this situation would be right but that wasn't it.

“Luke,” he said, softly, Leia turning to stare at them both as Lando reached down, placing a hand on Luke's shoulder.

He meant it in comfort but Luke twitched, turning wide eyes up at him and Lando had never—

The ship lurched around them suddenly and spat them into hyperdrive.

 


End file.
